Latest News

It's time we updated those responsible for our fantastic sport.This report below is a travesty in this day and age, and is also likely illegal! ISAF, get with the century!

The Coady family were members of Sandringham Yacht Club (SYC) in Melbourne, Australia. Atanosios Papantonio was the Boating Manager of SYC. He had previously made comments that Stephanie Coady should not be sailing a 49er. One week prior to the Sailing World Cup - Sail Melbourne 2014, he verbally abused Stephanie's father Paul Coady, while preparing Stephanie's boat and ordered her boat removed from SYC permanently. Atanosios was also the Professional Race Officer (PRO) for SWC Sail Melbourne 2014. Stephanie had previously completed an SYC form for boat storage and had been notified of approval for storage that year. She was training along with other Sail Melbourne competitors and, no other competitor was told to remove their boat.

Stephanie entered the SWC Sail Melbourne 2014 in the Olympic Class 49er. She completed all required paperwork and presented at registration and measuring as helm of the boat. Stephanie was known well by the PRO, the 49er IRO and 49er race officials. It was known that Stephanie had been training in the 49er for the SWC 2014. World Sailing also published on their website, sailing.org, an article on the event highlighting Stephanie competing against the men as an example of the diversity of the competitors.

Stephanie sailed the first day of racing and retired early due to a damaged spinnaker pole. Before the second day racing she and Paul were approached by the PRO (Atanosios) and told they were in violation of the gender rules in the Notice of Race (NOR). Paul explained that this was in violation of discrimination law. The PRO subsequently verbally abused Paul and Stephanie. The PRO was later joined by a member of the International Jury (IJ). Paul requested that a protest be lodged in accordance with the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) before any action was taken. This was agreed by the PRO. Paul also explained they would not sail if a protest was lodged. An email was immediately sent to the event organisers asserting Stephanie's rights under discrimination law.

After waiting for 2 hours, no protest was lodged, so Stephanie sailed to the race area. She was followed by members of the IJ in a boat. Stephanie was verbally abused by other competitors with foul language and yelled at to get of the course. The IJ were laughing at the abuse directed at Stephanie. Stephanie was 16 years old at the time. Upon returning from the days racing Paul was informed by race officials that Stephanie had been disqualified from the regatta.

Paul met with the Director of Sail Melbourne, Mark Turnbull, who suggested Stephanie continue to sail but without earning ISAF/World Sailing points. Paul agreed on the condition that results be recorded to ensure points could be earned in the event the decision to disqualify was unlawful. Mark agreed and stated he would just need to get approval from the IJ and Yachting Victoria.

The PRO and IJ organised a meeting that night with representatives from Yachting Victoria and Sandringham Yacht Club and race officials. Stephanie and Paul were not invited. Mark Turnbull was also not invited.

Paul was contacted that night and told that a meeting had been convened with the PRO, IJ, YV and SYC and, that all parties were in agreement and confident the matter would be resolved. Paul was also informed that a protest had been lodged as he had requested and that he was required to attend a meeting that night. Paul was subsequently ambushed, on his own, in a blatant kangaroo court. The IJ decided that by competing in a men's event with a female helm, he committed gross misconduct and brought the sport into disrepute. They also decided that the assertion of legal rights was a violation of rule 3 ("not to resort to any court of law or tribunal") of the RRS. Stephanie's boat was disqualified from the entire event.

Paul requested of SYC that Stephanie be allowed to sail her 49er free of discrimination in club sailing and be allowed to keep her boat at the club, as agreed. At the time approximately 100 boats were kept at the yard. All requests were denied and the Coady family were forced to cancel their membership.

Stephanie and Paul started federal legal action early 2014. World Sailing threatened that if Stephanie's case were to proceed they would cease Olympic class sailing in Australia. The Coadys stated their intention, if the threat was executed, to pursue World Sailing for the exclusion of women from the 49er class at SWC Sail Weymouth and Portland UK under similar provisions in UK legislation for discrimination in the supply of services. World Sailing stated by email that Stephanie was excluded from the 49er class at SWC Weymouth and Portland 2015 on the basis of her gender.

The case of discrimination is currently with the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.

World Sailing recently announced SWC events will no longer be held in Australia. Sail Melbourne has conducted Olympic class sailing under the Olympic sailing format for over a decade. World Sailing also announced a similar decision for Sail Weymouth and Portland UK. Australia is the #1 ranked country in the SWC for 2015/16 with 28 medals and Great Britain is the #2 ranked country with 22 medals.

At all times the Coady family have ensured that the best of legal advice and representation has been sought. Very thorough legal analysis has been undertaken before any claims have been made. The Coady family have been advised and represented by specialist discrimination lawyers including Peter Hull, James McDougall and Chris Ronalds. Paul Coady also holds a master's degree in commercial law.

Yachting Victoria sought no legal advice before disqualifying Stephanie in response to the formal complaint of discrimination.

The 49er Skiff

The 49er skiff is a high performance two-handed (two person) sailing boat designed for crews weighing around 150 kgs. The 49er was selected as the men’s high performance two-handed boat for the 2000 Olympics. As a result of Olympic selection, the 49er also became a World Sailing (formerly International Sailing Federation) class with a World Championship regatta held every year. A series of Sailing World Cup regattas are also held in a number of Countries. The Sail Melbourne regatta is one of the Sailing World Cup regattas.The two roles of the competitors on the boat are called the helm (skipper) and the crew. The crew is responsible for hoisting and lowering the spinnaker, controlling the spinnaker sheets (ropes), and balancing the boat. Due to the large sail area and spinnaker size, strength and stamina of the crew is important. The helm is responsible for steering of the boat. Strength and stamina of the helm is not a particular advantage. This has been established in other sports that involve steering for example harness racing, horse racing, monster truck racing, rally car driving etc where women compete with the men.Stephanie Coady is the helm of a 49er. She sails with male crew due to no female crews being available. They entered into the Sail Melbourne regatta in December 2014 and were disqualified after the second day of sailing due to breach of the Olympic gender requirements for the men’s 49er class.Mixed (male and female) crews have in the past competed in the Sailing World Cup regattas and the World Championship. One mixed crew was ranked 19 on the World rankings. Mixed crews have always been female helm and male crew.The FX is a variation of the 49er designed for female crews around 120kgs. It is the same boat with a shorter mast and smaller sail area.

In 2012 a replacement was sought for the Olympic Women's Elliott 6m Match Racing class. The FX was selected as the women’s two-handed skiff for the 2016 Olympic Games replacing women’s match racing (http://www.sailing.o...lider_footer_01). The FX World Sailing class was included in the World Championships and the Sailing World Cup regattas.No formal announcement or press release has ever been made by World Sailing detailing the exclusion of mixed crews from competing in the men’s 49er class. The World Sailing 49er class rules (http://www.sailing.o...pment/20102.php) do not exclude mixed crews: “The crew shall consist of two persons.”

Discrimination

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 gives effect to Australia's obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (UNCEDAW) and certain aspects of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 156.

This case although made under provisions in the same legislation, has two separate components: a civil complaint of sex discrimination and, a criminal complaint of victimisation after the assertion of human rights.

Section 22(1) of the SDA provides:

(1) It is unlawful for a person who, whether for payment or not, provides goods or services, or makes facilities available, to discriminate against another person on the ground of the other person's sex, …:

(a) by refusing to provide the other person with those goods or services or to make those facilities available to the other person;

( in the terms or conditions on which the first-mentioned person provides the other person with those goods or services or makes those facilities available to the other person; or

Yachting Victoria (YV) was the organising authority for SWC Sail Melbourne and responsible for the race officers and the International Jury. YV entered into contract with Stephanie to provide services for her to participate in the Sailing World Cup – Sail Melbourne in the 49er Men’s class. YV subsequently on the advice of the International Jury repudiated the contract without grounds, based on her gender.

Section 5(2) of the SDA details indirect discrimination where:

the discriminator imposes, or proposes to impose, a condition, requirement or practice that has, or is likely to have, the effect of disadvantaging persons of the same sex as the aggrieved person.

The gender based condition for eligibility to compete in the 49er class was impossible for Stephanie to comply with and, served no reasonable purpose for ensuring competition or served any other reasonable purpose. Stephanie had sought assistance from YV and the International 49er Association and was still unable to find a female crew. In contrast male crews are in abundance.

Victimisation

It is a strategy for discriminators to indirectly attack the victim by targeting others with a relationship with the victim. By doing this the discriminator is able to inflict damage on the victim while at the same time deny discriminating against the victim. Both the SDA and the UNCEDAW have provisions, for both the aggrieved person and third parties, for victimisation after asserting human rights.

Section 94(2) of the SDA sets out the criminal victimisation provisions which include if the Respondent/s subjects or threatens to subject another person to any detriment on the ground that the other person:

“has reasonably asserted, or proposes to assert, any rights of the person or the rights of any other person under this Act or the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986.”

The assertion of rights under discrimination law was made both verbally and in writing before disqualification action was taken. So that the allegation could not be levelled against them in the future of discriminating against Stephanie directly, a meeting convened with the PRO, the IJ, SYC and YV, decided to target Paul Coady with a kangaroo court and disciplinary action based upon the gender of Stephanie. Subsequent victimisation consisted of a further 4 blatant kangaroo courts and a 12 month ban recently executed. The kangaroo courts were conducted without any remote consideration for natural justice and were based upon fabricated evidence, lies and exaggerations. More information is detailed in "the facts" section of this site.

From Sailing Anarchy:
kilroy was there
screen-shot-2016-09-30-at-12-20-39-pmBest known for his straight talk and perhaps the most beautiful ocean racing boat in history, Jim Kilroy died last night in hospice care according to multiple sources. The Alaska-born Californian became one of California’s most successful real estate owner/developers, but his passion for the sea never dimmed.

Jim’s memoir is a lot like the man; brash and honest with a touch of vainglory; buy a copy and read one of the most interesting sailing/business stories around; Jim donated all proceeds of that book to youth causes, including sailing.

Here’s one tribute from Aussie SA’er ‘recidivist’: “In the bar of the CYCA after a Southern Cross Cup race back in the early 70′s (in which race Ted Turner cheekily put American Eagle inside Kialoa on a mark rounding – without rights), Ted entered the bar to be greeted by Jim Kilroy lifting him off the ground by his shirtfront and saying “You ever try that again and you’ll have 2 fucking six-metres”. Jim put him back down and walked out.”

Here’s another, from ‘Hitchhiker’: When asked if maxi racing isn’t a rich man’s sport, Jim said, “No. there’s one rich man aboard and 25 poor men, and they enjoy it more than the rich man does!”

Share your own Kilroy and/or Kialoa stories, pics, or what have you in what should be a legendary thread about a legendary man.

Coastal Skipper (55 hours)Aim: To gain a thorough grounding in the principles and practices of coastal navigation and an understanding of the causes and effects of coastal weather. An advanced course for those wishing to undertake coastal voyages.

Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) has published its latest Nautical Almanac, and released six updated charts.

Covering 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017 the New Zealand Nautical Almanac is an authoritative source of information for safe navigation in New Zealand waters. It contains astronomical information, tide predictions for ports, and information about navigation lights, as well as LINZ’s Annual Notices to Mariners.

“This is critical information for safety at sea, and compulsory for certain vessels,” says LINZ National Hydrographer Adam Greenland. “But we’d encourage all mariners to consider carrying a copy.”

LINZ has also updated charts covering the lower South Island as well as Gisborne:

A Torrid Tale of Collision, Capsize, and the Charge of the Light BrigadeThe Super 16 knock-out round of the World Championship Finals sizzled with excitement and controversy today, as the World Match Racing Tour heads for a climactic finale in Sweden.

Strong, northerly winds blowing across the island of Marstrand offered up a different race course and a different challenge from previous days. It brought out the best of some of the young Antipodean teams who have flown half way round the world for a shot at the $1 million bonus prize money for the winner of this event. The likes of Western Australia’s Sam Gilmour and Matt Jerwood might have thought their chances of the big prize were pretty slim, but on the evidence of today’s performances by the young sailors from Perth, they might just have a shot if the big breeze stays up.

Jerwood took his opening match against the highly rated Danish skipper, Nicolai Sehested, and then came within a hair’s breadth of taking a second win until a small tactical error at the final turning mark let Sehested off the hook. 1-1. Jerwood made amends with another win in the third match, taking it to match point. Once again in the fourth match Jerwood got the better of Sehested in the start and led to the bottom gate. But opting for the left-hand side of the first upwind leg put the Aussie at a disadvantage on port tack as they two boats converged at high speed on the first cross.

Too late, Jerwood realised he had nowhere to go as Sehested was on a collision course with right of way. The Dane bore away too late to avoid contact and bashed into the Aussie boat, ripping the carbon hiking rack clean away from the rest of the M32 catamaran. After a 30-second consultation between the umpires, Sehested was black flag disqualified for failing to avoid the collision and causing serious damage. The end of the race, and this evening both skippers went to the protest room to make their case, waited to hear their fate from the jury. For that reason, both Sehested and Jerwood were tight lipped about the detail of the incident. “Big crash, rack came off,” said Sehested. “It was a big hit,” agreed Jerwood, “and probably quite expensive.”

Yes indeed, both teams will be in sore need of getting further through the competition to cover their damage deposit before they can start counting what’s left for them to fly home with. The jury concluded that Jerwood be given 1 penalty point, and Sehested 2 points. This means the Australian still sits on match point tomorrow, while the Dane needs to win four straight matches in order to get to the Quarter Finals. A tough prospect for one of the favourites among the 20 international teams that have come to Marstrand.

Like his fellow Australian, Gilmour found himself in a commanding position over Hans Wallén and looked headed for the Quarter Finals until Gilmour and his crew fluffed their lines at the windward mark. Wallén had just snuck around the mark ahead of Gilmour who was slow out of a tack. “The wind came in strong, about 20 knots,” said the skipper. “We came round with not much speed at the top mark, we deployed the gennaker a bit early and the boat was straight over. There was no opportunity to bail out of it.”

Wallén may have wriggled free and won that match, but Gilmour is growing in confidence and still sits on match point. “We were leading every match and we just made some small errors; we are still at match point and the boys are sailing the boat really well. Every race we do, we feel like we’re faster.”

Another Swede that likes the high winds but failed to make much of an impact today against Phil Robertson was Nicklas Dackhammar. “Phil just had our number today,” said Dackhammar. “I did some bad starts and we got a penalty, we were against a great team and they really pushed hard today.”

As well as dominating the starts, Robertson was also very fast in the strong wind, partly because all four sailors on his team sit on the rack while every other skipper sits in on the hull. "Four on the rack,” said Robertson, “and we're off like a bridesmaid's nightie!" The wily Kiwi has spotted a loophole in the M32 class rule. “We were sailing the boat underweight at other events, so we dropped our crew weight to less than 300kg.” This is the magic number where lighter teams are permitted to have all the crew hiking on the outriggers, whereas most teams are operating at the crew maximum of 350kg, with the helm sitting inboard.

“We found people cleverer than us sailors, some proper mathematicians, to do the sums for us,” said Robertson. “They worked out that even with our lighter crew weight, we’d have more righting moment. About 10% more. And it felt pretty good today. We were fast against one of the fastest high-wind teams in the M32.” Some of the other crews are certainly grumbling about the legality of what Robertson has done, but no one has actually found the grounds to throw the book at him. With the breeze set to be strong on Thursday too, Robertson may prove a real handful, especially if he stays sharp in the pre-starts. Could this be the Charge of the Light Brigade?

In the other Super 16 match of the day, Chris Steele turned on the afterburners to beat Australia’s Steve Thomas 3-1.

The Sail-Offs took place earlier in the day, with Mattias Rahm dispatching the winner of the past four years in Marstrand, Bjorn Hansen, 2-0. All the other matches went 2-1, with Eric Monnin beating Evan Walker, Murray Jones beating Sally Barkow, and Johnie Berntsson beating Keith Swinton.

Thursday’s schedule sees the conclusion of the Super 16, with even stronger breeze on the Marstrand forecast.

Live coverage will be shown at www.wmrt.com from 1400 local Swedish time.

Remaining crew rescued from stricken yacht14 June 2016 - 3.10pm Two men and a woman have been rescued from their battered yacht, Platino, around 550 kilometres north of New Zealand by the crew of the container ship Southern Lily.

A rescue line was used to help get the trio safely on board around 3pm.

Meanwhile, an RNZAF P3 Orion resumed searching today for a fellow crewman, aged 63, lost overboard after the yacht sustained damage to its rigging yesterday morning. The aircraft subsequently took position above the two vessels later this morning, to provide support and communications during the rescue of the three crew from the Platino.

The Orion returned to the search for the missing man around 3pm, once the trio were safely on-board the Southern Lily.

The body of another man who died in the incident remains on board the abandoned yacht, as it could not be safely transferred in the difficult conditions with three metre swells. An EPIRB beacon has been activated on the yacht to aid in tracking its location.

The yacht was abandoned after its condition deteriorated overnight as it lost steering and began taking on water.

The Rescue Coordination Centre NZ (RCCNZ) is coordinating the rescue operation and search for the missing man.

RCCNZ search and rescue mission coordinator John Dickson praised the master and crew of the Southern Lily for what was a difficult operation.

“It was not easy to get the three crew members from the yacht to the much larger ship in those sea conditions – they’ve done a tremendous job.

“We are obviously disappointed that it was not safe to transfer the body of the deceased crew member, but safety must come first. We will keep track of the position of the yacht.

“The search for the missing person has now resumed and will continue until around nightfall when the aircraft must return to New Zealand.”

The Southern Lily is now resuming its voyage to Auckland - this will take about two days..

Search for sailor lost overboard 550km north of NZ 13 June 2016) A search is underway for a sailor lost overboard from a yacht 550km (300 nautical miles) north of New Zealand. The Rescue Coordination Centre NZ was advised at 11.20am today (Monday, 13 June) that one male had been killed and another man, in his 60s, knocked overboard from the 20m yacht, Platino, which had suffered serious rigging damage in winds of up to 75km/h (40knots).

Three other people are on board the yacht, which is in contact via satellite phone.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue mission coordinator Keith Allen said an RNZAF P3 Orion that was already operating in the area was on the scene within 90 minutes of the incident, and a commercial fishing vessel is heading to the area.

A second RNZAF Orion has since replaced the first aircraft and will continue searching until nightfall. If required, searching will continue at first light tomorrow. The search area is out of range of all but fixed wing aircraft.

“Sea conditions are extremely dangerous and the remaining crew on board the Platino have advised that it is too hazardous to be on deck. With limited ability to manoeuvre safely, the yacht is motoring to New Zealand, but this could take at least two days. The fishing boat is expecting to be at the scene by around 7pm but it will not be possible to search in darkness.”

If you have problems to view this message click here. Chicago, 06/12/2016 SoftBank Team Japan claims first win in front of huge crowd in Chicago Ricardo Pinto / Download Sam Greenfield / Download Sam Greenfield / Download Ricardo Pinto / DownloadUp to 1000 boats were ringing the race area just off the city front. Tens of thousands of fans were lining iconic Navy Pier. Bars, restaurants and fan zones were heaving. The best sailors and fastest boats were ready to show what they could do. After phenomenal practice racing on Friday, with two capsizes, the wind took a while to co-operate.

So while fans enjoyed a great day on Navy Pier, officials took the ‘substitute race’, which was sailed on Friday, and scored it as Race One of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Chicago.

That victory went to SoftBank Team Japan who would have seen a measure of justice in having Friday’s “substitute race” count on the leaderboard.

In New York, the team won the substitute race, but it was never used.

But in Chicago, with winds too light and unstable to start on time, the substitute race was inserted in the broadcast and scored as an official race. It was the first win of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series for SoftBank Team Japan.

“It’s a shame we couldn't get racing started on time today, but it's nice to turn the good work from Friday into a win on the scoreboard today,” said skipper Dean Barker.

"We've been working hard to improve our performance... Friday was a good day and we take a lot of confidence from that.”

Artemis Racing scored second place and Groupama Team France was third.

On the other side of the ledger was ORACLE TEAM USA, who capsized in the substitute race on Friday and who now must carry that last place finish on the scoreboard.

As Saturday afternoon progressed under steamy, sunny conditions, and with the sea breeze taking its time to settle in but picking up, race officials and teams extended the race window beyond the initial 3:00pm deadline and were eventually able to get one late afternoon race completed for the fans on Navy Pier.

This race was a huge crowd-pleaser and is designated as a ‘substitute race’ for Sunday. Should conditions not allow for racing to progress as scheduled on Sunday, it will be inserted in the international broadcast and scored as an official race.

Emirates Team New Zealand were the top team on Saturday, finishing ahead of ORACLE TEAM USA and Artemis Racing.

“The race today was a tough battle in front of some really impressive crowds," said Artemis Racing skipper Nathan Outteridge. "I’m pleased we were able to put on a race for everyone who turned up as the fans here in Chicago have been awesome."

“The amount of people on Navy Pier and the number of boats out on the water made for a pretty amazing experience to be out there sailing in front of them all," said Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby.

"Everybody looked like they were having a really good time, in the grandstands and on the spectator boats on the water, and it was good to put in a strong win in front of every single person out there today, whether it evenutally counts on the leaderboard or not

"Racing here in Chicago has been special, and I’m glad we could take a win in front of such a big crowd.”

Conditions are predicted to be excellent tomorrow, setting up a fantastic finish for Super Sunday.

Saturday Substitute Race finish order (this race will only be scored if used on Sunday)

Emirates Team New Zealand ORACLE TEAM USA Artemis Racing Land Rover BAR SoftBank Team Japan Groupama Team FranceAbout the America’s CupThe America's Cup is the oldest trophy in international sport, dating back to 1851, when the yacht America, after which the trophy is named, beat the best of the British fleet in a race around the Isle of Wight, U.K. The trophy won on that day was donated in trust through a Deed of Gift and has since become a symbol of immense achievement. It is perhaps the hardest trophy in sport to win. In it’s 165-year history, only four countries have managed to win the America’s Cup.

The America's Cup is currently held by the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, U.S.A.. On September 25, 2013, its team, ORACLE TEAM USA, completed the biggest comeback in sports to retain the trophy it had first won in 2010.

On December 2, 2014, Bermuda was named as the home of the 35th America’s Cup, with the iconic Great Sound as the race course area where the new America’s Cup Class boats (15-meter, foiling, wing-sailed catamarans) from each competing nation will race for the America’s Cup in May/June 2017.

The America’s Cup is honored to partner with Louis Vuitton as the title partner of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers and the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs. Louis Vuitton is also the presenting partner of the 35th America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton.

The America's Cup is also proud to be supported by BMW, Bremont, ORACLE, XL Catlin, the Bermuda Tourism Authority, Gosling’s, Sperry and Sail Racing; as well as: Appleby, BF&M, Butterfield, Butterfield & Vallis, Moët & Chandon, PwC and the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club and in New York by Brookfield Place.

Shaman set to finish tonightThe 88 footer Shaman, with Gary Lewis at the helm, will be the next boat to cross the finish line. At 1400 NZT she had 64nm to run and is sailing at 11 knots. Shaman has been a consistent performer through the race, with boat speeds amongst the top four monohulls. Her track east of the rhumb line has been …Read more.

Email correspondence with Itchy FeetImage Above: You can see Itchy Feet is emerging from a thick high cloud (very white = cold and high) associated with the front. While the main fleet is in clear skies as they head into the trades. The northern extension of the front will pass over the fleet early on Thursday morning. -----Original Message----- From: "Sally Garrett" Sent: Wed, 08 Jun …Read more.

Update on Itchy FeetItchy Feet continues to make good progress, even though they are travelling at 90 degrees to the course to Fiji. Itchy Feet called Race Director Sally Garrett at 21:45 last evening (Tuesday 7th June). At the time they were making good progress in 35 knots gusting 50 knots under storm jib. All is well, and the crew are comfortable. They …Read more.